


Follow Your Fire

by rxseinbloom



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, I don't know what I'm doing, Introspection, M/M, Overuse of italics, This is so different, self-indulgent use of fire imagery, than writing research papers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 07:13:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15925484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rxseinbloom/pseuds/rxseinbloom
Summary: It always started with a spark. A sudden, intense electricity within him, threatening to burst free at any moment. Growing into something bigger, something all-consuming, until he could feel himself combusting; words or actions without thinking. Someone else always got burned.





	Follow Your Fire

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my second attempt at fanfic and my first time writing for the voltron fandom!! I love Keith with my whole heart, and wanted to take a trip into his thoughts.
> 
> This work is unbeta'd, but I've tried my best to catch mistakes!

It always started with a spark. A sudden, intense electricity within him, threatening to burst free at any moment. Growing into something bigger, something all-consuming, until he could feel himself combusting; words or actions without thinking. Someone else always got burned. It didn’t matter if it was a justified anger. An ignorant comment on his phone screen, or a stupid, equally ignorant adult either one could ignite him.

  
At first, adults were impressed by his fiery attitude, embracing any challenge or pushing for a change. They were impressed by his intelligence, his ability to excel above his classmates. But their praise quickly turned to disgust. Discipline case. Hot head. Too much to handle. And wasn’t that the fucking irony of it all? Too much for his parents. Too much for every foster family that had decided the straight-A’s and dreams of the stars weren’t worth the calls from the principal or the suspensions or the medical bills for the third fucking fight this semester, do you have a death wish, kid? And maybe he did. Not to die, but something, anything, to free him. To get rid of the burning under his skin that he spent hours trying to remove, scratching at his arms until they were raw. To get rid of the constant need to run, to escape the scrutinizing gazes that weren’t even there. To get rid of the blackness of the sky and go further; to get off this godforsaken planet and to the stars, burning as much as his blood.

  
He was sixteen when the fire was first calmed, when the air rushing past his ears was able to cool the flames. The electricity in his veins was replaced with the numbness that followed hours in the turbulence of a craft, only to return as soon as he laid down at night in his empty room. When the commander’s biting remarks were swept aside with thoughts of the stars, thoughts of bursting through the atmosphere and just getting out. The freedom was exhilarating, spinning through the air, dodging blasts and returning his own. He found a mentor who wasn’t threatened by his spirit, who actually believed in him. For the first time, he felt a heat other than that which he had known, embers of a feeling that was foreign to him. Clenched fists and tears as he smothered the flames, as he was rejected with a pat on the back and “you still mean so much to me.” He was left with a warmth that grew to something comforting, something safe.

  
He was seventeen when he met a boy with ocean eyes, whose movements were fluid yet unpredictable. There was something there, no more than a spark, but a fierce competition overtook it. Taunting remarks sent across the classrooms left him with blazing cheeks and a nervous twitch in his feet, pushing him to run away; yet there was something in him that was curious. Still, he ran to the sky, flying as high as he could before the engine would sputter and protest, before he was forced back to the ground. He was seventeen when the very ground was pulled out from under his feet, when the fire inside of him grew to something deadly, something more painful than he had ever felt. The fire became wild, an untamable force clawing its way out of skin. He felt the ticking bomb within his heart, and when it burst, he was barely even surprised. It was pilot error, keep your nose out of this boy, you don’t fucking belong here. And then he was on his own, every day full of the same heat that he felt beneath his skin, every night leaving him shivering under threadbare blankets.

  
He was eighteen when he came alive again. The stars were no longer out of reach, they were in front of him, sometimes so close that he could feel them burning too. He was no longer a child, getting into petting fistfights when the flames became unbearable. He was a warrior, using the heat to push him forward, to chase the adrenaline rush that came with a fight. He was surrounded by people who recognized the fire within him as a strength, who sought every day to make him feel included. He was eighteen when he confronted the boy with bright blue eyes and an even brighter smile, when he found a fire not related to conflict at all. Teasing remarks held no real malice, but served as a place of comfort for him, something normal. Every word left him with confused hope, the thrill of something new mixed with a sense of belonging. He was overwhelmed with the feeling that this was home, that despite the constant barrage of danger, this was safe.

  
He is nineteen now and things are changing. Exhaustion hangs heavy in the air, changes in leadership and changes in alliances becoming nearly too much. He is still able to find a home, wrapped in a warm embrace or sparring for hours, but things are different. He feels the exhaustion, but he feels the hope. It’s there inside of him, joining the fire that is already within, keeping his eyes straightforward and his shoulders squared. He tries to stay calm, but every moment he feels like he will break. There is a fire inside of him, but it is waning; ready to be free, to be held tightly and never let go. He is nineteen and his spirit is still fire, but it is cooled by another, softer presence. A spirit of water, cooling and calm, yet turning to rage and destruction when warranted. They make quite the pair, he finds himself thinking, fire and water, sun and stars. There will always be fire in his veins and his soul, confrontational and burning, but now there is a place to let it escape. He is nineteen and he has people to run to, to hide away with when the heat becomes too much. He will always be fire, but now it can be controlled. Burning with him, the stars he longed for are right outside his window, and he is free to live with his fiery spirit, blazing for the universe to see.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm.... pretty sure Lance actually has brown eyes but also. fanfiction.  
> Please let me know what you think! I hope to write more in the future, but not if no one likes my writing ;)  
> Title inspired by the song Follow Your Fire by Kodaline


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